A protest took place post-race after contact was made between State of Rest and Anamoe halfway down the straight.

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Ultimately, after a long wait, the protest was dismissed and Allen and State of Rest were awarded the victory.

Allen rode State of Rest to the front of the pack before the home turn of the 2040 metre race, Anamoe then flying home down the straight to draw level halfway down.

Allen and State of Rest veered slightly left and made contact with their challenger, causing Anamoe jockey Craig Williams to signal his intention to protest immediately after dismounting.

The stewards ruled in favour of Allen and State of Rest, handing them the Group 1, $5,000,000 win.

Speaking to Channel 7 past-race, Allen said there were nervous moments waiting on the result of the protest.

"The longer it was going, there was definitely a few anxious moments, but I think the right decision was made," he said.

"The race panned out pretty well, when the gap appeared I had to probably ask him to move quick before it closed and might have got there a little bit too soon, but to his credit when that horse (Anamoe) got to me he really fought ..."

Earlier in the day, Generation, trained by Ballarat-based trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, entered the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes heavy favourite and enjoyed a strong run to claim a win.

He sat comfortably in second for the first 850 metres of the 1200 metre race, two-wide with plenty of room to make a move.

Around the bend, jockey James McDonald did just that and hit the front, holding off a fast-finishing Scissor Step to claim victory.

Speaking to Channel 7 post-race, McDonald was pleased with the run.

"Good, tough effort too, lovely colt who executed beautifully and he got the job done," he said.

"The tougher the fight towards the end the better he fought, so nice horse."

Eustace told racing.com it was a strong return for Generation after some time off in-between races.

"Great to see. The last race took a fair bit out of him and we decided to give him a little bit of a freshen up," he said.

"He's had a bit of time between runs. He just needed to fill up and put a bit of weight back on.

"The team down at the beach at Balnarring have done a great job and he had a nice gallop here at The Valley. He's still progressing."

In the Group 2 Fillies' Classic, Maher and Eustace nearly tasted success again through the John Allen ridden Whatafox, but fell to second place behind Mokulua by 2.75 lengths.

Allen backed up the effort in the Group 2 Crystal Mile to ride Just Folk to a win with a strong finish.

Allen found a sweet spot three-wide around the final bend and Just Folk was able to push ahead down the straight and hold off the fast-finishing Begood Toya Mother and Elephant in second and third-place respectively.

"He got a beautiful run. He jumped and put himself into the race," Allen said to racing.com post-race.

"He always travelled really well and rounded them up easily enough but might have had a little think about it when he was in front but he was always doing enough to hold on."

The Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup had a strong Ballarat feel, with Ballarat-based stables McEvoy Mitchell Racing, Cumani Racing, Rob Hickmott Racing and Ciaron Maher Racing each represented.

Maher's Floating Artist was the best performing of the lot, able to run strongly down the straight for second-place.

Hickmott's Pondus, the favorite heading into the race, led for much of the second-half of the race but was overrun, claiming fourth.

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